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Subject: Rear deck carpet dying and foot rest carpet color change Author: 04sshd : member since March, 2007 : 5809 posts Posted on: 2008-04-11 20:44:56

My car is 13 years old now, and came from a high heat environment, originally from Texas then to Southern California. Prior to my ownership the lack of tinted windows and direct sunlight really did a number on the rear speaker deck. The originally black speaker deck carpet had turned into a faded purple. Today I finally got off my butt and restored the color in my rear deck carpet. I also found a set of iL foot rests in gray so I dyed those black to match the carpet in my car.

The product I used to do this is made by SEM and it is an aerosol car interior dye. They come in hundreds of colors to match just about any interior color. I used the Landau Black to do my dying.

You can see how sun damaged the rear deck carpet is, it is almost a light purple color


You can see the area that was not in direct sun light compared to the top...time to fix that!


Use the aerosol SEM color dye, spray about 4-6 inches away and keep a nice even steady pass to apply the dye.


Only half way through the first coat and already a huge difference.


First coat


It will take a few coats to get total penetration and seamless covering
After a couple coats we are looking good!


Move on to the rear shade, remove it from the car and disconnect the harness.


Looks gross




Much better!




Let it dry for about an hour and reinstall




Then onto the foot rests, still have enough dye to do both






one down one to go


I had one with the sides not staying on, I used a heavy duty headliner adhesive to reattach the vinyl


spray it on


press it on and hold it for a few minutes until it dries


I even did the bottom so you can never tell


Put them back in the car and you could never tell the used to be grey




The SEM dye is pretty durable, I have used it in some of my other cars to repair damaged color to leather or interior panels. I have even see people use this stuff to do complete interior recolors. It will eventually start to wear in high traffic areas like seats but aside from that the stuff will last a long time.

Hover over an image to enlarge thumbnail...

Colin@HID Solutions Moorpark, CA
99 E38 740iL Silver on Grey leather, 18" Style 94 wheels, lighted handles, self leveling xenons, Nav Retro fit, MK3 16:9 Widescreen.
95 E38 740iL Oxford Metallic Green on Black leather, Fresh Paint, 01 Face lift, M-Sport Steering wheel, M-sport seats, Alpina front spoiler air damn, Alpina Softline 20" rims 20x9 front 20x10 rear, 6000k HID's, 8000k HID Fogs, smoked tails, quad brake light mod, 20% tint all around, PIAA Yellow Hi-beams, 01 Headlights, 750 grills, HR Drop Springs, Monroe Struts, Strong Strut, CCFL Angel eyes, 4 pos euro foglight switch, euro front plate base, euro Germany front and rear license plate and brackets, 16:9 Widescreen Navigation, MK4, BM43, PIE Audio and Video iPod integration, PIE Aux Nav interface, Backup camera, gauge rings, CF cluster bezel, steel sunroof to glass retrofit 750iL Door panels, 750iL B-Pillar panels, 750il Wood interior lights, 750iL wood trim full leather front seats backs, BMWNA goodwill cluster, SES Voice Control Module retrofit, trunk spoiler.
01 E46 M3 - Pending Delivery
02 Harley Davidson custom build chopper, S&S Super 100ci, rev-tec 6 speed trans, Corbin seat, billet wheels, streached tank and frame
00 Cadillac DeVille, OnStar, HID's, Chrome Vouge rims (For Sale)
99 Ford Ranger XLT, V6, 5 speed
87 Pontiac TransAm, Tuned Port Injected 305, Auto, B&M Shifter, 99 TransAm Leather seats.
03 Honda CBR 600RR, Yoshi pipe, fender eliminator kit, 6000k HID kit, 3800 miles (SOLD)
03 Honda XR50, Yamaha plastics and sticker kit, big bore 88cc kit
00 Kawasaki KX500 2 stroke, WER steering dampener, FMF pipe, acerbis lever gards, protaper bars, desert tank
99 Yamaha R1, full show bike(SOLD)
91 E32 735iL (SOLD)
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• Rear deck carpet dying and foot rest carpet color change (pic) - 04sshd 2008-04-11 20:44:56 (20335 views)
  • Re: Rear deck carpet dying and foot rest carpet color change - gatsby740il 2008-04-13 10:52:40 (379 views)
  • looks like brand new! excellent idea (nt) - ian 2008-04-12 12:05:33 (367 views)
  • Saweet Bro! thanks for posting on BMW7! (nt) - Edwin 2008-04-12 05:20:15 (317 views)
  • Wow, big difference - nice job (nt) - RobinK 2008-04-12 05:15:13 (336 views)
  • Good job man.........what a difference. (nt) - beechy 2008-04-12 03:03:18 (314 views)
  • Looks Great Colin! Looks MUCH better now! (nt) - absessler 2008-04-11 23:40:11 (327 views)
  • Looks good, but why not replace that with your headliner? (nt) - jim740i 2008-04-11 23:02:24 (396 views)
    • Dye the headliner? I just had it redone in factory gray not sure if I would like - 04sshd 2008-04-12 00:01:38 (402 views)
      • I did not see your other pics. On mine the interior color - jim740i 2008-04-12 12:00:40 (326 views)
      • +1...it would smell like areosol in the 7...Gj Colin..now I know why u passed on - snitch740i 2008-04-12 01:13:04 (344 views)
  • did i mention - thesteve 2008-04-11 22:18:25 (314 views)
    • thanks! Steve, Did I ever mention (pic) - 04sshd 2008-04-11 22:23:39 (657 views)
      • well then, as always... (pic) - thesteve 2008-04-11 23:00:29 (573 views)
        • Very cool, I need to do my parcel tray too.....Thanks!! - louiseven 2008-04-12 05:06:51 (312 views)
  • U have no idea how happy I am to read this! I am doing rear shocks - Mario 2008-04-11 22:01:43 (367 views)
  • Re: Rear deck carpet dying and foot rest carpet color change - kdx2 2008-04-11 21:30:27 (324 views)
  • Same stuff I used on parts on the e36 color change. Works great! (nt) - dwightf 2008-04-11 21:07:16 (344 views)
    • Yeah but who wants purple headliners? (url) - IBHenry 2008-04-11 21:20:13 (407 views)
      • haha, re-read what I wrote (nt) - dwightf 2008-04-11 23:53:44 (292 views)
  • Huge difference for little money! That was well worth it! - IBHenry 2008-04-11 20:57:02 (302 views)
    • I recall you mentioning that you were going to do that next. Freaking awesome, - rg0115 (Robert G) 2008-04-11 22:27:22 (318 views)